UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic stole a quote from Joe Rogan while discussing his UFC 211 main event fight this Saturday night vs. Junior dos Santos. “(Daniel Cormier) and Rogan talk about it. The rub,” Miocic said. “I know I can hang with a man who beat me. I went five rounds with him and […]
UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic stole a quote from Joe Rogan while discussing his UFC 211 main event fight this Saturday night vs. Junior dos Santos. “(Daniel Cormier) and Rogan talk about it. The rub,” Miocic said. “I know I can hang with a man who beat me. I went five rounds with him and […]
Remember a few years ago when Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos put on a series of fights over the UFC heavyweight title? Many considered them some of the best the division has ever witnessed. Now, as Velasquez works his way back to fighting from an injury, “Cigano” is preparing to face Stipe Miocic for […]
Remember a few years ago when Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos put on a series of fights over the UFC heavyweight title? Many considered them some of the best the division has ever witnessed. Now, as Velasquez works his way back to fighting from an injury, “Cigano” is preparing to face Stipe Miocic for […]
It looks like Henry Cejudo vs. Sergio Pettis won’t be happening at UFC 211. The flyweight bout was set to open the pay-per-view (PPV) portion of UFC 211. That’s not going to happen thanks to a hand injury Cejudo is suffering from. MMAFighting.com reported the news via multiple sources. Pettis will earn his show money […]
It looks like Henry Cejudo vs. Sergio Pettis won’t be happening at UFC 211. The flyweight bout was set to open the pay-per-view (PPV) portion of UFC 211. That’s not going to happen thanks to a hand injury Cejudo is suffering from. MMAFighting.com reported the news via multiple sources. Pettis will earn his show money […]
Someone is going to sleep in the main event of this weekend’s UFC 211 pay-per-view (PPV) – and both men involved know it. UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is all set to make his second career title defense against No. 4-ranked Junior dos Santos. It will be the second time the pair have met inside
Someone is going to sleep in the main event of this weekend’s UFC 211 pay-per-view (PPV) – and both men involved know it.
UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is all set to make his second career title defense against No. 4-ranked Junior dos Santos. It will be the second time the pair have met inside the Octagon, as dos Santos took home a unanimous decision win in their first meeting back in December of 2014.
Fast-forward nearly three years later and Miocic is now atop the heavyweight division, and “JDS” comes off of a spectacular performance over Ben Rothwell. Since his win over Rothwell, “Cigano” said he knew all along he’d be challenging Miocic next (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“I knew I’d fight for the belt since my win over Ben Rothwell,” dos Santos said. “It took longer than I expected, but when other athletes started to turn down fights with me, creating millions of excuses, the only option was to fight the one who didn’t hide and accepted the fight, the champion Stipe Miocic.”
Dos Santos claimed that his fellow top heavyweights have been picking their fights, opening up the door for him to get the next crack at Miocic’s title. In the end, the Brazilian believes the right decision was made given the fact he holds a win over the current title-holder:
“Actually, I think that the fact that I always stepped up to fight anyone has been an issue for me, because, as we can see, other (fighters) are strategical and clearly pick fights,” dos Santos said. “In my opinion, the right move has been made. I not only beat the current champion, but I’m also coming off a win over the guy that was coming up in the division before he faced me, and I had a big win with a great performance, unlike other alleged title contenders.”
Although he took home a unanimous decision win over Miocic back in 2014, dos Santos admits that it was a tough fight en-route to his victory over the Croatian. It was an epic slugfest between the two brawlers the first time around, but they were able to stay standing and go the distance.
This time, however, “JDS” doesn’t expect this fight to go past the fifteen minute mark:
“I don’t think we will go past the third round this time,” said dos Santos. “I can guarantee you it won’t be a knockdown like in the first fight, it will be a knockout now.”
“I believe [Miocic] has really evolved, but he can’t use his recent knockouts as a parameter,” dos Santos continued. “I’m different. I’m as strong as him, and I’m the fastest heavyweight in history. Whatever his strategy is, I will win.
“Everybody knows I’m more confident standing, that I have my boxing as my background and that I go for the knockout the entire time. There’s nothing new. If he decides to stand and trade with me, he will go down — and this time he won’t get back up again.”
The co-main event spot belongs to two of the fiercest female fighters in the UFC today as strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is set to mix it up with fellow striker and all around beast Jessica Andrade. The two women are known for the ferocity and willingness to mix things up on the feet. Both are warriors in the truest sense of the word with the kind of never say die mindset that makes for epic battles, not to mention brutal beat downs.
The co-main event spot belongs to two of the fiercest female fighters in the UFC today as strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is set to mix it up with fellow striker and all around beast Jessica Andrade. The two women are known for the ferocity and willingness to mix things up on the feet. Both are warriors in the truest sense of the word with the kind of never say die mindset that makes for epic battles, not to mention brutal beat downs.
For Joanna Jendrzejczyk battling things out on the feet is a foregone conclusion. Her style consists of sharp jabs, front kicks and leg kicks to start things off. While she is willing to mix things up, her preferred method is to get reads on her opponent before throwing herself into the thick of things. Once she understands the range she’s sure to start following up her jab with a strong cross, a hook off of a rear kick, and variety of different punching combinations. While she does fight in the pocket from
time to time, she much rather land her strikes, pivot out and regain distance before engaging again.
In this bout with Andrade, Joanna Jedrzejczyk has a truly tough test. Andrade is likely to be the bigger woman come fight time and is likely to have a power advantage. Nevertheless, the challenger is at a reach disadvantage, which means Joanna is going to want to stick that jab, land the front kick up the center, and counter off of Andrade’s pressure when she comes forward. Joanna must be diligent with how far she pushes forward. Andrade being the smaller party will go to the body consistently. It’s a bigger target than the head and harder to miss. But since Andrade likes to bulldoze forward, lateral movement as well as pivoting will be key to Joanna landing hard counter punches. While Andrade may not have an insane wrestling pedigree, she’s more than willing to tie up and dump a girl on her back. That means Joanna can’t over commit on anything unless she’s on a deep outside or inside angle with her hips off the center line.
It’s hard to believe that Jessica Andrade was once competitive as a bantamweight, but that nasty power really made up for her size disadvantage. She is one of those fighters that is reminiscent of the old school, aggressive Chute Boxe style. Andrade fights like a hybrid of Wanderlei Silva and John Lineker. She’ll throw powerful kicks and come down throwing hooks like Silva. She’ll punch her way into range and work the body with consistent body hooks reminiscent of Lineker. But against the champion Jessica Andrade will need to bring all her tools to the table. In fact, those body shots in particular are going to be a major factor in this fight (more on that later). Takedowns should also be on the menu as she’s proficient in a number of different techniques.
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Andrade’s height disadvantage means playing the outside game is highly unlikely. She needs to close the distance on Joanna Jedrzejczyk right out of the gate. But she can’t afford to just bull rush forward and get clipped. A distance jab into a low calf kick will unbalance the champ long enough for Andrade to close distance where should immediately work the body. It will be hard to divorce herself from her hooking punches, but she’ll want to mix things up with jabs, straights and feints throughout. Some low kicks into front kicks to the straight cross to the body could push the champ to the cage. Then and only then should a lunging hook be unleashed. If the champ’s back is against the cage then there will be nowhere for Jedrzejczyk to go except either left or right. That means Andrade’s right or left hooks will be awaiting her on the exit. The cage is super important in this fight. If Andrade can get Jedrzejczyk to the cage early and often, stay diligent with body and leg work, it’s only a matter of time until she walks into something devastating.
Does Joanna Jedrzejczyk keep her belt or can Jessica Andrade become the next champion?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
UFC 211: Krzysztof Jotko Vs. Dave Branch This fight is on the preliminary card bout and it basically marks the return of Dave Branch to the UFC after a six year long hiatus. Branch was a two – division WSOF champ and is also regarded and respected as one of the best fighters even outside […]
UFC 211: Krzysztof Jotko Vs. Dave Branch
This fight is on the preliminary card bout and it basically marks the return of Dave Branch to the UFC after a six year long hiatus. Branch was a two – division WSOF champ and is also regarded and respected as one of the best fighters even outside the octagon. However, despite all of his former glory and reputation, it cannot be denied that Branch has something to prove on upon his long awaited return. Will he be able to keep Jotko under control? We will have to wait and see. Jotko has been in immaculate form of late and really has a good chance of actually winning this bout.
UFC 211: Jason Knight Vs. Chas Skelly
Yet another fight which is being featured on the preliminary bout see’s Jason Knight take on Chas Skelly. Knight is a promising 24 – year old who recently impressed with a massive win over Alex Caceres. In fact, the fight did not even go to the judges, Knight was able to dish out a submission which left Caceres will little choice but to wave the white flag.
Chas Skelly will be a different ball game though, he has a background in wresting and so it is certainly not going to be easy to Knight to pull off one of his signature submissions. Skelly has been able to win most of his competitive fights thus far in a convincing manner, will he be able to keep that up against Knight?
UFC 211: Marco Polo Reyes Vs. James Vick
Reyes comes from The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 2 in which he was a competitor. Since that competition has come to an end, Reyes has been in good form and has put out some exceptional results. However, is he really fit enough to be in the UFC? well, the UFC is going to test exactly that come UFC fight night 211 when he goes up against James Vick (10-1).
UFC 211: Gabriel Benitez Vs. Enrique Barzola
Benitez and Barzola are going into this knowing that one of the might be handed the pink slip. There really is a lot to lose here. Neither fighter has justified their inclusion in the UFC thus far and now the loser will in all likelihood, lose it all. The question is though – who will it be?
Although he took home a unanimous decision win over Miocic back in 2014, dos Santos admits that it was a tough fight en-route to his victory over the Croatian. It was an epic slugfest between the two brawlers the first time around, but they were able to stay standing and go the distance.
